The best jobs for young adults — Lamar Alexander talks FAFSA in Tennessee — Chicago hunger strike stretches on

THE BEST JOBS FOR YOUNG ADULTS: High school seniors and college students might want to consider a career as a physician’s assistant, an actuary, a statistician or a biomedical engineer, according to a new report from Young Invincibles. Those jobs are considered the best ones for young adults based on their salaries, projected future growth and access to the positions. About half of the top 25 jobs are in the STEM fields and more than half of the top 25 employ more men than women. Most of the top jobs require an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree, but one notable outlier on the list is elevator installer and repairer. It’s a job that requires no postsecondary degree, but is highly in demand, offers significant growth and a competitive salary. While no degree is necessary, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that job candidates often need an apprenticeship under their belt to be considered, “which highlights the importance and potential of the Registered Apprenticeship program as an option for young adults seeking a productive career without attending college,” the report says. Read: http://bit.ly/1hhhLrk

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— On a related note: About 87 percent of millennials surveyed for a Clark University poll said they attend college “to have a better chance of finding a good job.” More: http://bit.ly/1JwH92M.

— A dozen nonprofit organizations have been selected by Citi Foundation and America’s Promise Alliance as recipients of their Youth Opportunity Fund. The $3 million initiative will help the nonprofits scale-up programs in 10 U.S. cities to connect “more than 3,500 youth to opportunities that increase their employability and prepare them for lifelong success,” Citi Foundation and America’s Promise Alliance said in a release. Details on the nonprofits: http://bit.ly/1LBVf9G.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Education is taking a brief break next week, but will return after Labor Day on September 8. Cheers!

ALEXANDER’S FAFSA CHAT: Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander will meet with college presidents, financial aid advisors and others to discuss his proposed FAFSA reforms today in Tennessee. Alexander will pitch his FAFSA plan as a useful companion to the new Tennessee Promise free community college program at Motlow State Community College. “The president of Southwest Community College in Memphis told me he believes that he loses 1,500 students each semester because of the complexity of the form,” Alexander plans to say at the roundtable. “If we simplify the form, even more Tennesseans will be able to take advantage of Governor [Bill] Haslam's promise that two years of community college are tuition free.”

— The Tennessee Promise just kicked off this week, but state high school students should start thinking about enrolling next year, now: http://tnne.ws/1Jkqi45.

HUNGER STRIKE STRETCHES ON: A hunger strike to save a shuttered Chicago high school is now in its 11th day. The strike, backed by teachers unions and the traditional public school advocacy group, Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, is also targeting Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s education policies. On Wednesday, one of the strikers collapsed after testifying before the Chicago Board of Education, the Chicago Tribune reports. The protesters would like to see the closed school, Dyett High, transformed into a science-focused school. Irene Robinson, a grandmother who had nine children attend Dyett, was hospitalized Monday after giving up solid foods. But she was back to protesting on Wednesday. "I will stand here and I will fight ... until the last breath I have," she said. More: http://trib.in/1K4opy7.

NO CANDIDATE LEFT BEHIND: During his 2008 run for president, Vice President Joe Biden’s college affordability plan relied on boosting Pell and a $3,000 tax credit per student, Young Invincibles notes. During a 2007 Huffington Post Mash-Up online debate, then-Delaware Sen. Biden said, “I would allow every single solitary family making up to $150,000 to be able to have a refundable tax credit of $3,000 per student. Everyone under $50,000 now qualifies for a Pell Grant. I would change them from $4,300 to $6,300 plus the refundable tax credit. It would mean every child in America, every qualified person in America, under an income under $50,000 would have $9,300 to go to any state university in their state in America for four years. But we have to change our mindset here, and lead with early education, with pre-Head Start and Head Start. The whole Biden plan for starting early and college as well, that whole plan costs less than $18 billion a year.”

— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker caused an uproar in 2011 by signing a bill that ended collective bargaining for teachers, but now the retirement rate is back to normal, Chad Aldeman and Kirsten Schmitz write: http://bit.ly/1MUGfnZ.

INCREASED TUITION FAILS TO OFFSET STATE SPENDING CUTS: During a six-year period marked by the nation’s economic downturn, tuition increases at public four-year universities didn’t make up for state funding cuts, according to a new report out today from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. It finds a net loss of $430 per full-time student. Meanwhile, researchers said these universities increased expenditures by $528 per full time student. The report looks at the period from the 2006-07 school year to 2012-13. During that time, state and local appropriations dropped $2,370 per full-time student and tuition revenues rose per student by $1,940. The report: http://bit.ly/1WSpUmQ.

— “While public universities have sought to protect students by not fully offsetting their loss of state funding with tuition dollars, the increased cost burden forced upon students and their families is unsustainable,” said President Peter McPherson, the president of APLU.

BAYOU STATE BOARD PREZ MULLS RE-ELECTION RUN: Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Chas Roemer has a few weeks to say whether he’ll run for the seat again. His decision could have a major effect on education in Louisiana — particularly when it comes to whether state Superintendent John White will keep his job. Roemer has been a supporter of and partner to White in the fight against Gov. Bobby Jindal over the Common Core and its aligned tests. White has said he wants to stay on the job, but hiring a new superintendent requires an eight-vote supermajority of the board.

— The governor succeeding Jindal, who will be elected this fall, gets three appointments to the 11-member state board. All of the other seats are elected, and the Common Core has angered many voters. Roemer has to decide during the second week of September whether he’ll run again. He told The Times-Picayune that he’s weighing some personal factors, but said he has historically waited a while before deciding to run. More in The Times-Picayune: http://bit.ly/1TrX1cw.

ADJUNCT JUNCTURE: Carolina Frederickson of the liberal American Constitution Society writes in the Washington Monthly about university adjuncts, concluding that American universities are enriching administrators at the expense of teachers. Adjuncts, Frederickson explains, have been gradually displacing tenured faculty. “In 1969,” she writes, “almost 80 percent of college faculty members were tenured or tenure track. Today, the numbers have essentially flipped, with two-thirds of faculty now non-tenure and half of those working only part-time, often with several different teaching jobs.” Meanwhile, “universities increased the number of administrator positions by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, ten times the rate at which they added tenured positions.” By 2013, Frederickson writes, less than one third of college and university revenue was being spent on instruction.

— “Did making so little money affect my job performance?” one adjunct tells Frederickson. “Yes. I missed a week of class once due to being hospitalized for stress and exhaustion. Working 40-50 [hours a week] for a grand total of $4000 over four months … working extra jobs on top of that to cover my rent and to buy my health insurance and taking other extra jobs to cover my student loans nearly killed me.” More: http://bit.ly/1PNQpVw.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— Parent Revolution, the group that successfully pushed for a parent trigger law in California, has tapped Seth Litt as its new CEO. Litt is the former principal of the ROADS School in the Bronx.

— President Barack Obama said he will appoint Doreen E. Brown and Aaron Payment as members of the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

REPORT ROLL CALL

— College Success Arizona says the state must set a statewide college attainment goal aligned to future labor needs: http://bit.ly/1K2p2se.

— North Carolina budget negotiators say they’ve reached big milestones on a state government spending plan that’s two months late, including a tentative agreement on state employee and teacher pay. The Associated Press: http://avlne.ws/1PyWTqM

— Idaho school district: We have almost 100 percent support for keeping guns. KBOI: http://bit.ly/1UdeRk3

— A Colorado county may create the world's first public college scholarship program funded with marijuana money. The Associated Press: http://abcn.ws/1LBRTU9

FUTURE OF THE IoT: What’s Washington’s role in the Internet of Things? What are the cyber-security risks? In our first POLITICO-McKinsey & Company Working Group for the Agenda, we convened a group of high-level voices to determine how — or if — Washington will be involved in the future of the IoT. Find out what the experts said in the debut findings report from the Agenda: http://politi.co/1VcJNmD

Authors:

About The Author

Caitlin Emma is an education reporter for POLITICO Pro, covering federal K-12 education policymaking and politics, in addition to national trends.

Caitlin graduated from UConn in 2011. As a reporter in Connecticut, she covered everything from state policy and politics, to police, courts, community book clubs and restaurant health inspections. She’s also a loyal UConn Huskies fan.

Caitlin donated her bone marrow in 2010 and has spearheaded a number of bone marrow donor drives. Ask her about it, and she’ll gladly convince you to register as a donor.

A Massachusetts native, Caitlin now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her dog Roxy and husband Bill.